Now, aren’t we just a bunch of bloody hypocrites?
Most of us–all of us–do not admit our hypocrisy
Permit me to rant.
If you permit me, I will go off on an unhinged rant, and I invite all of you to travel with me as I go off in different and unrelated directions. I don’t know how many of you are aware of the term ‘stream of consciousness writing,’ in which the writer writes without pausing to think. The words follow the thoughts that tumble continuously from their fevered brains.
Read the linked article!
We love stray dogs, but ignore the poor who get bitten!
Most of us are hypocrites and hate to admit this to ourselves. Delhi-NCR has between half a million and a million stray dogs, and the region records about 26,000 dog bites. I use the word ‘records’ with some deliberation because most people who suffer from dog bites are poor and/or homeless people who do not report their bites.
Yet, many of the well-heeled are up in arms against this ‘inhumane act.’ One suggestion, theoretically valid, is that we must vaccinate the dogs. These people claim that we don’t have enough dog shelters, and constructing them is a massive task beyond our capabilities. If so, the same holds for the potential task of vaccinating the stray dogs.
None of these people speak up for the poor, homeless people who suffer dog bites, contract rabies, or their babies who the strays sometimes attack, kill, and eat.
We love cattle, but its fine if they eat plastic.
Nor do these people rise against the stray cattle that wander our roads, often causing accidents because our society demands we worship cows. Our right-wing groups attack Muslims on the mere suspicion of killing cows, and live in the apparent ignorance of two facts. One, that many cows consume plastic and die painful deaths. Secondly, India is the world’s second-largest exporter of beef, with Hindus owning the majority of this business.
Hypocrisy and ignorance rule us, and we live our lives like smug fools.
Is prayer just a social event?
I know many women who pray. Allow me to be blunt. The women gather at each other’s homes or in halls, dressed for a party. They chant hymns for hours and conclude their sessions with feasting. I don’t know how much money they spend on clothes, makeup, and food for these events, and what they do with the leftover food, flowers, and other ‘sacred’ stuff. Many urge me to ‘find God,’ then they encourage me to recognize their god.
Your god is not my god!
If god truly exists, I say, why don’t you look for god in your hearts? Why don’t you stop persecuting people of other faiths or destroying the planet? One such woman promised to slap me when I said, ‘Khuda Hafiz.’ I asked her if she knew the meaning, and she assured me that she was aware of the meaning.
‘So, what is the problem?’ I asked her.
‘Don’t you ever dare use a Muslim greeting with me again,’ she snarled, her voice thin with anger, the saffron on her forehead glowing red, almost bursting into flames.
Worship god, they say, but don’t you dare worship any god but my god. Pray to him – it is always a ‘him’ – and follow his path. His path is the one true path, and I asked them once, if the Catholics, Protestants, Sikhs, Vaishnavites, Shaivites, Buddhists, Jews, Shias, and Sunnis all claim that theirs is the one true path, then how many ‘one true paths’ must we follow?
Climate change, AI and what a fraud I am!
Many of these people pester me about climate change and waste, yet they buy too much and waste too much. Climate change must take a back seat in the face of the imperative to impress society.
I confess to being hypocritical myself. Many of us know that AI engines (and all this new computer technology) consume massive amounts of energy. We, the public, don’t know how much energy these technologies consume – their actual energy consumption is a well-kept secret, known to a select few.
While we try to save fuel, for instance, we continue to use AI. I use AI to create images and videos almost daily. Why do I use AI engines to make pictures and videos? I’ve always been hopeless at drawing and painting (but I am excellent at shading, which is helpful in Photoshop), so I use AI engines to bring concepts to life.
I am aware of the insatiable greed for power and water that the machines (that power the computers) have, and how they deplete our planet’s resources. Photo-editing tools are incorporating AI into their arsenal, and grammar checkers are also leveraging AI.
In my defence, I claim that I feel guilty for sacrificing the planet at the altar of my creative demands, but I am conscious of the weakness of my defence.
Does this make me a hypocrite? Yes, it makes me a hypocrite.
I cry. But…
I cry for the people of Palestine, but not enough for the people of Manipur, or the Rohingyas, or the Congolese, or the Sudanese, or the Ukrainians, or the Muslims in my country, or the Dalits of India. How many people do you cry for?
Do we cry for the species we have exterminated, or the soil we poison, or the forests we denude?
We believe that technology will save us, and in the meantime, we continue to live in our sheltered, air-conditioned cocoons. Many of my friends and relatives tell me our Prime Minister is doing a fabulous job for the country, oblivious to his many failures, corruption, lust for power, and self-aggrandizement. He has benefited the rich, and they are happy, lulled into a coma, becoming zombies and willing puppets.
We live charmed lives and become angry when the restaurant does not offer us excellent service. These things stress us, and we stand up for imagined causes but not those that matter.
Not one of us cries about the pathetic state of education in our country, happy to send our kids to distant lands to benefit other nations. We won’t stand up and protest the violence done to people of a lower caste or other faiths. Nor will we protest the damage people do to our planet, but we contribute to the carnage.
Then, we complain that our country is not progressing.
To quote Mr Camus, create dangerously.
Hypocrisy, cowardice, complacency, pomposity, and ignorance rule us, and we live our lives like smug, comatose fools.
We are in the state our ‘leaders’ wish us to be, and are blissfully unaware of our zombie-like state.
One day, someone will wake up, and we will stone that person, angry that they dare disturb our daydreams and illusions.
We believe we are free, but have allowed ourselves to become prisoners. Many tell me not to speak out because trolls and the punitive hand of government are close by and eager to act.
We are not just hypocritical, but we are afraid. Albert Camus urged us to ‘Create Dangerously.’ Few dare to create dangerously and to reclaim our freedom.
Ouspensky once said, if I remember his words correctly, that he walked into a café and everyone was asleep.
Freedom and courage are terrifying. Do we dare to wake up?
All of that is true. And I appreciate your honesty. The only thing to do is either stop being a hypocrite or try to cut back on one's hypocrisy as much as possible. And freely admit to being one but begin efforts to reform as much as possible.
Yes. Totally agree.